


Promise

by HourofWakening



Category: Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:00:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22930621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HourofWakening/pseuds/HourofWakening
Summary: Kagrenac takes care of Almalexia in the best way she knows how. (Set circa 1E 416, immediately after the war with the Nords.)
Relationships: Kagrenac/Indoril Almalexia
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10
Collections: TES: Femslash Week 2020





	Promise

The ball was Dumac and Nerevar’s triumph; no one had noticed when Kagrenac slipped away from the crowd to take refuge in a quiet corner, where she could observe without being bothered. No one but Almalexia, who followed not long after.

She sat without invitation, which would have left Kagrenac incensed if it were anyone but her, and said nothing, giving space to the uneasy familiarity between them. It had been many months since their last conversation, before the war. The tonal architect had played no role on the battlefield.

“What do you think?” Kagrenac gestured to the room before them, where Chimer and Dwemer mingled and celebrated, giving toasts to the newly formed First Council and its two warrior-kings. “A magnificent new era, then, Almalexia?”

“I think it has promise,” said the queen, carefully.

“Promise,” echoed Kagrenac. She ran the tip of one finger around the rim of her glass, holding Almalexia’s gaze. “Nerevar will be its king, and you its queen.”

Almalexia made no attempt to deny the speculation.

“Perhaps. But then, I have always been a queen.”

Kagrenac acknowledged this with a gracious nod of her head.

“Indeed, you have. Come, I have something to show you,” she said, then stood abruptly and swept from the hall with a swish of red robes, not looking to see if Almalexia had followed her.

Almalexia hesitated, rolling her eyes, but decided to indulge her curiosity. She didn’t catch up to Kagrenac until they were well down the hallway, toward the first of several secure Dwemer doors which Kagrenac opened by pushing a sequence of buttons. Deep within the palace complex, they came at last to Kagrenac’s study, or one of them, for she had many spaces decided to various aspects of her work. Almalexia waited, browsing the bookshelves with interest as Kagrenac searched through the papers on her desk.

“Here,” said Kagrenac at last, laying a large sheet of vellum on the desk with a flourish. It was a blueprint; a sketch of a long, curved two-handed sword.

Still Almalexia waited, saying nothing, for Kagrenac to give her an explanation.

“I heard that your sword was broken, in the battle of Berandas.”

“Yes, a great brute of a Nord smashed it with his maul,” was Almalexia’s frank reply. “Fortunately, I always carry an axe as backup.”

Kagrenac closed her eyes, inhaling sharply, at the intolerable thought of Almalexia, disarmed and wounded, perhaps even _frightened_ , scrambling to grasp her axe.

“Well, I propose to craft you a new sword.”

“Kagrenac…” The slight crease between her eyes showed that she was beginning to read her at last; this was always an uncomfortable sensation for Kagrenac, but she pushed on, determined to make her point.

“A queen who must fight her own battles needs the best sword, a sword that will not break in the heat of battle, and _I_ am the best blacksmith,” she insisted, eyes fierce and glinting.

Almalexia stepped closer and rested one hand on the desk, as close to Kagrenac’s as was possible without touching her.

“You worry. About me.” 

“How could I not?” Kagrenac’s voice was no more than a whisper. She allowed the little finger of her hand to creep toward Almalexia’s, just brushing her skin; they both sighed.

“Kagrenac,” said Almalexia again, and she would never tire of hearing her name said like that, “if you were anyone else right now, I might think you wanted me to kiss you.”

“Is that so? And what makes you think I don’t?”

“Because it’s you,” she murmured, not saying, _And it’s me_.

“This may surprise you, Almalexia,” Kagrenac was taking her hand from where it rested on the desk, raising it to her lips, “but you don’t know everything.”

Slowly, and with her eyes fixed on Almalexia’s face, she kissed her fingertips; first the tip of her index finger, then the middle finger with its rough pen callous, and then the fourth finger, and this time her tongue moved between her lips to brush Almalexia’s skin in the most gentle caress. The queen opened her mouth to speak, but seemed to change her mind, and instead leaned and kissed her, with nothing more than the press of her lips at first, until Kagrenac kissed her back, as sweet as the nectar drawn from a flower.

Relief washed over her in a sudden, shuddering wave; it was almost too much.

Kagrenac pulled back slightly and rested her forehead against Almalexia’s, struggling to gather herself.

“Almalexia, please… be careful.”

“I always am,” she said, squeezing Kagrenac’s hand in hers. “I promise.”


End file.
